Hearts Who Hardly Met

On a park bench, awaiting the refreshing breeze of a Sunday afternoon, are two hearts. They sit in utter silence for a while, finding a strange solace in being there; interchangeably pausing to look at the other. Not one phrase is exchanged as paces quicken and limbs become weak.

These hearts are not strangers. They’ve seen each other before. They’ve passed each other on street corners and come across one another at parties. Neither ever spoke – just exchanged glances from across crowded and dimly lit rooms. She watched as he danced with others and he gazed as she laughed with everyone but him. But they speak; without moving their mouths, they speak the most profound words that could not be measured with sound..

No one says anything, but still, everyone around them knows. They’ve known since the two first met. It would be easy to state the obvious, but they keep quiet and let things fall where they may. It’s not their place to say what should happen between two hearts.

They had kept their distance from each other. They had cancelled plans, finding out the other would be there. At every turn, avoiding one another was always the solution. It was for the best, they told themselves – it was safe.

It had been a while since they last saw each other on that same park bench so many moments ago. Where there was once only the static shimmer of dark green paint, was now a completed canvas: decorated generously with the etchings of teenage dreamers and memory-makers.  She sat and wondered if he had etched one himself. He looked around and contemplated whether she had been the inspiration for one. As time went by and seasons shifted, they both look changed – different somehow, as different as hearts can become after years of sheer joy and unbearable pain.

Neither spoke; only smiled at each other with warm understanding. And though it had been what felt like a lifetime since their eyes last met, their gaze held the same as it always did; wondrous and hopeful. These hearts who have hardly met will always be together. They know that now. They’ll walk side by side, down crowded streets, without turning around to look for company. Each knows the other is there. They always have been.